Hosea 6:5-8:7

English Standard Version

⁵Therefore I have hewn them by the prophets;
    I have slain them ^(A)by the words of my mouth,
    and my judgment goes forth as the light.
⁶For ^(B)I desire steadfast love^[a] and not sacrifice,
    ^(C)the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

⁷But ^(D)like Adam they ^(E)transgressed the covenant;
    ^(F)there they dealt faithlessly with me.
⁸^(G)Gilead is a city of evildoers,
    ^(H)tracked with blood.
⁹As robbers ^(I)lie in wait for a man,
    so the priests band together;
they murder on the way to ^(J)Shechem;
    they commit villainy.
¹⁰In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing;
    ^(K)Ephraim's whoredom is there; ^(L)Israel is defiled.

¹¹For you also, O ^(M)Judah, ^(N)a harvest is appointed.

When ^(O)I restore the fortunes of my people,
7 ^(P)when I would heal Israel,
    the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,
    and the evil deeds of ^(Q)Samaria,
for ^(R)they deal falsely;
    the thief breaks in,
    and the bandits raid outside.
²But they do not consider
    that ^(S)I remember all their evil.
Now ^(T)their deeds surround them;
    ^(U)they are before my face.
³By their evil ^(V)they make ^(W)the king glad,
    and the princes by their treachery.
⁴^(X)They are all adulterers;
    they are like a heated oven
whose baker ceases to stir the fire,
    from the kneading of the dough
    until it is leavened.
⁵On the day of ^(Y)our king, the princes
    became sick with the heat of wine;
    he stretched out his hand with mockers.
⁶For with hearts like an oven ^(Z)they approach their intrigue;
    all night their anger smolders;
    in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
⁷All of them are hot as an oven,
    and they devour their rulers.
All ^(AA)their kings ^(AB)have fallen,
    and none of them calls upon me.

⁸Ephraim ^(AC)mixes himself with the peoples;
    Ephraim is a cake not turned.
⁹^(AD)Strangers devour his strength,
    and ^(AE)he knows it not;
gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,
    and ^(AF)he knows it not.
¹⁰^(AG)The pride of Israel testifies to his face;^[b]
    ^(AH)yet they do not return to the Lord their God,
    nor seek him, for all this.

¹¹Ephraim is like a dove,
    ^(AI)silly and without sense,
    calling to ^(AJ)Egypt, going to ^(AK)Assyria.
¹²As they go, ^(AL)I will spread over them my net;
    I will bring them down like birds of the heavens;
    ^(AM)I will discipline them ^(AN)according to the report made to their congregation.
¹³^(AO)Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!
    Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!
^(AP)I would redeem them,
    but ^(AQ)they speak lies against me.

¹⁴^(AR)They do not cry to me from the heart,
    but ^(AS)they wail upon their beds;
for grain and wine they gash themselves;
    they rebel against me.
¹⁵Although ^(AT)I trained and strengthened their arms,
    yet they devise evil against me.
¹⁶They ^(AU)return, but not upward;^[c]
    they are ^(AV)like a treacherous bow;
their princes shall fall by the sword
    because of ^(AW)the insolence of their tongue.
This shall be their derision ^(AX)in the land of Egypt.

Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind

8 Set ^(AY)the trumpet to your lips!
    One ^(AZ)like a vulture is over the house of the Lord,
because ^(BA)they have transgressed my covenant
    and rebelled against my law.
²To me they cry,
    ^(BB)“My God, we—Israel—know you.”
³Israel has spurned the good;
    the enemy shall pursue him.

⁴^(BC)They made kings, ^(BD)but not through me.
    They set up princes, but I knew it not.
With their silver and gold they made idols
    for their own destruction.
⁵^(BE)I have^[d] spurned your calf, O Samaria.
    My anger burns against them.
^(BF)How long will they be incapable of innocence?
⁶For it is from Israel;
a craftsman made it;
    it is not God.
^(BG)The calf of Samaria
    ^(BH)shall be broken to pieces.^[e]

⁷For ^(BI)they sow the wind,
    and they shall reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain has no heads;
    it shall yield no flour;
if it were to yield,
    ^(BJ)strangers would devour it.